This invention relates generally to wall and cabinet molding guard devices and, more specifically, to guard devices wherein a rigid guide rail is supported from a vertical wall of a cabinet in spaced relation to vertically exending molding or "trim" to deflect large objects approaching the molding and to direct the objects away from the wall or cabinet and its molding.
The trim or molding of cabinets or walls is used for decorative purposes, usually to cover seams where two sections of the cabinet or the wall come together. It is the nature of these trim pieces, that they protrude slightly beyond the plane of the wall and, because they extend beyond the wall surface, they are subject to being engaged by objects passing by.
One example of the problem caused by protruding moldings is readily seen in grocery supermarkets. Supermarket cabinets, especially refrigerator cabinets, are formed of a series of panels pieced together to form open top cabinets of varying sizes. Where the panels join together, be they parallel panels or panels meeting to form a corner, strips of metal or plastic trim or molding are placed over the vertical seams and serve the various functions of decorative, hiding the seam, and attaching the two panels together. These vertical trim pieces continually undergo bumps and abrasions inflicted by shoppers moving through the aisles with their shopping carts. Usually, the greatest damage to the cabinet trim is inflicted by the relatively large and extremely heavy freight carts or pallets which the stock boys wheel through the aisles daily to replenish goods on the shelves. These pallets are often as long as the aisle is wide and weigh as much as 2,000 pounds when loaded with heavier items such as canned goods and sugar. Some of the freight carts include merely a wheeled base pallet on which the goods are stacked, while others of the carts include metal cages built up from the base pallet with upright posts at its corners to prevent the goods from falling off the cart. When the corners and edges of the heavy freight carts or the products carried on the carts make contact with the vertical molding or trim of a cabinet, the carts can very easily and quite frequently do tear, bend or otherwise mutilate the trim, thus causing both unsightly and hazardous obstacles jutting out into the supermarket aisles.